If Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) didn’t want canceled health plans to become a political controversy, then he shouldn’t have voted with his Democratic colleagues to approve the Obamacare regulations that caused 249,199 Coloradans to lose their coverage.

“Sen. Udall says our numbers were wrong. They are not wrong. Cancellation notices affected 249,199 people. They want to trash our numbers,” wrote Jo Donlin, a Colorado Division of Insurance official, in an email to colleagues on November 15. ”I’m holding strong while we get more details. Many have already done early renewals. Regardless, they received cancellation notices.”

Donlin explained in a separate email to a Udall staffer, Joe Britton, that the numbers came from data provided by insurance companies operating in the state. She noted that the Colorado Division of Insurance did require insurers to allow early renewal, which, as indicated in her comments above, was an option that some affected Coloradans chose.

Udall’s staff wasn’t satisfied with the response.

“We need to move on this ASAP – or we’ll be forced to challenge the 249K number ourselves,” wrote Britton in a threatening email to another Colorado Division of Insurance official. “It is wildly off or at least very misleading and reporters keep repeating it.”

Enzi warned that the regulations would “fundamentally change the health insurance plans of millions of Americans.” He noted, citing the administration’s own reports, that up to 69% of businesses and 80% of small businesses would lose the grandfathered status of their health insurance plans because of Obamacare.

The numbers of canceled plans are irrelevant — whether it’s 10,000 or 100,000 or 249,199. The fact of the matter is that Udall wasn’t honest with his constituents. He sold them a version of the “Lie of the Year.” He can futilely try to blame state officials, but he owns Obamacare.